This
is one of Thomas Nast’s most powerful and effective political
cartoons, and one of his personal favorites, drawn when the artist was
not quite 24 years old.It
is a harsh criticism of the dominant influence of Peace Democrats
("Copperheads") at the Democratic National Convention, which
was meeting in Chicago in late August 1864 at the time this post-dated
cartoon went to press.

Throughout
his administration, President Abraham Lincoln faced a continual barrage
of criticism aimed at his policies and leadership, particularly against emancipation, the military draft, and his
management of the Union war effort. Early in 1864, there had been
talk of replacing him at the head of the Republican ticket.
However, by the time his party's national convention met on June 7-8,
the president's deputies had stifled rebellions and shored up support so
that he was renominated on the first ballot. The stagnant
performance of the Union military during the summer, though, bode ill
for the president and the war effort itself.

With Union military prospects
appearing dim, the
Democratic National Convention met in Chicago in late August 1864.The dismal military situation strengthened the party's Peace wing
("Copperheads"), led by Congressmen Clement Vallandigham of Ohio and
Fernando Wood of New York.Their proposal for a cease-fire and negotiated settlement with
the Confederacy was ratified by the delegates, with only four dissenting
votes, and incorporated into the official party platform.Confusing the issue, though, the Democrats voted overwhelmingly
for Union General George B. McClellan, a War Democrat, to become their
presidential nominee over two peace candidates, Governor Horatio Seymour
of New York and Thomas Seymour, the former governor of Connecticut.

In this cartoon, the
Democratic "Chicago Convention" is viewed as a betrayal of
everything for which Union soldiers were fighting, as well as a betrayal
of black Americans.On the
left, a defeated and disabled Union soldier, his face hidden in shame,
extends a feeble hand of surrender to a triumphant Jefferson Davis,
president of the Confederacy.Davis
stands with one boot disrespectfully on the grave of another Union
soldier, while Columbia kneels mournfully. In
the upper-left, the American flag is hung upside down as a sign of
distress.Nast’s message
is clear:if compromise
with the Confederacy is pursued, then Union servicemen will have
sacrificed their limbs and lives in vain, and black Americans will be
returned to slavery (as in the cartoon's background; note also that the black man is a Union soldier).

In accepting the Democratic
presidential nomination, however, McClellan rejected the peace plank of
the party platform, vowing instead to prosecute the war with more skill
and vigor than Lincoln.In
the late summer, Lincoln despaired of his chance for reelection and feared that,
despite McClellan’s assurance, the momentum of a Democratic victory
would fortify the Peace faction and force the general to retract his
campaign promise.Lincoln,
therefore, made his cabinet sign a pledge, sight unseen, to cooperate
with president-elect McClellan during the interim period to ensure a
speedy Union conquest of the Confederacy before the general’s
inauguration.

However, a few days after
McClellan’s nomination, the military tide began to turn in the
Union’s favor. On September 2, Atlanta fell to the Union forces
commanded by General William Tecumseh Sherman. Combined with a
previous victory by Admiral David Farragut at Mobile Bay on August 5,
and subsequent military success by General Philip Sheridan in Virginia's
Shenandoah Valley on September 19 and 22, McClellan's star began to fade
and the president's to rise. The publication of Nast's cartoon
came in the midst of this military turnaround, and Lincoln's campaign
managers blanketed the country with posters made from it. The
cartoon was widely considered to be a significant propaganda factor
aiding Lincoln's reelection.

With 78% of the Union
electorate casting ballots, Lincoln won in an Electoral
College landslide, 212-21.The
55% popular vote for the president was the third largest in the
nineteenth century, surpassed only by Jackson’s first victory in 1828
and Grant’s reelection in 1872.McClellan won only New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. It has
been estimated that Lincoln received 78% of the vote of Union
servicemen. While that number was not necessary for his
reelection, it may have been the margin of victory in a few close states
and, more importantly, was of great symbolic value. Republicans
also gained seats in the Congress to retain unassailable control, 149 to
42 in the House and 42 to 10 in the Senate; took back several state
legislatures; and only lost one gubernatorial race, in New Jersey.

The
Democrats, though, remained a viable party.McClellan captured 48% of the vote in a bloc of states stretching
from Connecticut to Illinois, and Republican totals declined over 1860
in several key states, such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The
two-party system was sound, and the Democrats were well positioned to
challenge the Republicans in future contests.